Acer plans to load Windows and Android to netbooks

Acer plans to adopt dual operating systems on its dual-core netbooks, according to a report from DigiTimes. The Taiwanese firm is planning to load both Microsoft Windows and Google's Android operating system to its netbooks so users can decide which to boot.

Including Android offers users a rapid boot and the ability to quickly and easily handle common tasks such as browsing the Internet or checking e-mail. Including Windows will allow users to run larger more resource hungry applications for more complex tasks.

Acet Taiwan president Scott Lin said the company expects to ship 40 million notebooks in 2010, along with 10 million netbooks. Lin said that figures from Gartner showed that netbooks will not be replaced by tablet PCs, and that global netbook shipments would reach 36 million units in 2010 and 50 million in 2014.